Bhubaneswar: The Indian team defeated Asian Games champions Japan by 7-2 to secure a place in the Olympic qualifiers of the FIH Hockey Series finals later this year. The Indian team will now take on South Africa in the final of the tournament.

According to sources, South Africa beat the United States 2-1 in another semi-final. The Japanese team took the lead just two minutes after the start of the game. Kenji Kishtato scored the first goal for Japan. Harmanpreet Singh then scored the goal in the seventh minute. Besides Harmanpreet, Ramandeep Singh scored two goals in the 23rd and 37th minute.

At the same time Varun Kumar (14th), Hardik Singh (25th), Gursahibjit Singh (43rd) and Vivek Sagar Prasad (47th) scored one goal each. Another goal for Japan was scored by Kato Watanabe in the 20th minute. India will now take on South Africa in the final on Saturday. Japan will take on the United States in the third-place playoff match. All the players in the league have performed well.

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